Back in 2005 I took part in a campaign to help promote the North East of England as a great place to live and work. It started with a letter about the campaign which was sent to dozens of local businesses, including mine. At the time I was running my animation studio, Qurios Entertainment. I responded immediately to the letter (unusual for me!) saying how much I liked the idea and asking how I could support it. A representative of the campaign came to see me and, in no time at all, I was named as one of the ambassadors of the One North East Passionate People, Passionate Places campaign. What followed was a blur of publicity, starting with a photo shoot of me in my studio, perched next to a CRT monitor. It soon spread to local newspapers, billboards and even some promotion in London. It was exciting and embarrassing! I was interviewed by national newspapers and radio stations and, for a while, it felt like I was a very, very minor local celebrity.

But it kept going! For years I had my face in the underpass at Middlesbrough Railway Station. In all that time it somehow remained intact! No graffiti, no crude drawings, nothing. It lasted for almost a decade until it was eventually removed. The one in Newcastle Airport lasted even longer. I last saw it just a few years ago in 2016. Every time I travelled abroad my 2005 face would be waiting to greet me as I queued for customs. It was all very surreal!

Me with my poster in Newcastle Airport in 2016. The last sighting was in 2017 – more than a decade since the start of the campaign. The poster in the Middlesbrough Railway station underpass – this was taken in June 2010 and the poster survived for a few more years after that.

It wasn’t just me, of course. There were about a dozen faces of the campaign, some who were included in TV adverts. I went along to a launch event at the Tall Ships Race in 2005 and met some of the other people involved – innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and me.

Eventually, the campaign came to an end. I’m not sure what sort of impact it made, and it’s really hard to find anything about it now, but for a while I was a poster boy for the North East!

Hartlepool Business Mail, May 2005

The Hartlepool Mail, 14th May 2005

An article on the campaign from the Hartlepool Mail, 12th May 2005

A London taxi featuring my massive face! I also heard (but never saw evidence) that it was used in a London tube station.

Alan Wright’s article from the Hartlepool Mail, 21st May 2005

Interview for the Institute of Directors magazine, August 2005

The Passionate People, Passionate Places promotional image featuring me, Qurios and part of the Teesside University campus.

My framed poster, given to me in 2005 as a thank-you for being part of the Passionate People, Passionate Places campaign.

I love Star Trek. I love it all (in varying degrees). Always have, probably always will. My go-to incarnation is The Next Generation, but I can appreciate it all for different reasons. The adventure of the classic series, the thoughtfulness of The Next Generation, the complexity of Deep Space 9, the fun of Voyager, the mixed bag of the movies, the colour of the animated show, the earnestness of Enterprise, the lot!

It used to be easy to enjoy Star Trek. There was The Original Series (TOS), then TNG, then DS9 and Voyager. All nice and linear, from A to B to C to 1701D. But things aren’t so simple any more.

Prequels and Reboots

It started to get complicated with Star Trek Enterprise, a prequel series set a century before the original series. Warp flight was still a novelty, transporters were a dangerous piece of kit, and we’d never met a Klingon. Enterprise isn’t my favourite show, but there’s still much to like here. But there’s also a lot that doesn’t quite fit with what we know lies ahead with TOS. The design, the look and feel of the ship, the costumes all suggest a slightly more sophisticated and advanced culture than the one we know and love from TOS, and there’s a very good reason for this: Star Trek isn’t real! It’s a TV show designed and filmed in the 1960s onwards. Enterprise was made for a millennial audience, it had to evolve, it had to be modern. It couldn’t have had retro sixties futurism, could it? Maybe, but that’s an argument for another day. The reason Enterprise doesn’t look like a real-life precursor to TOS is because it’s not real life. (By the way I love the NX-01 ship, it’s a great design with fantastic attention to detail, but it never felt like a predecessor to the original Enterprise to me.)

Now we have a new series about to hit our screens: Star Trek Discovery, set just ten years before TOS.

Another prequel that doesn’t seem to fit with the design of TOS – because Star Trek isn’t real.

But what if Star Trek was real? Is it possible to reconcile these differences inside the bubble of the show’s reality? Well, yes, I think it is, and we only have to look at the reboot movies to show us how.

The Kelvin Universe

When JJ Abrams re-booted Star Trek for the big screen he used time travel as a way to protect the original established chronology while also being able to start again. He didn’t want to rub out everything that had gone before and paint over it with his own version. So we got two universes: the Prime Universe and the Kelvin Universe. Everything before the 2009 reboot was in the Prime universe, including Enterprise and the new show, Discovery. The three movies existed in the alternate Kelvin Universe. JJ established that messing about with time travel and tampering with established events creates a new alternate universe where things can play out in their own way… Well, that’s not the first time that’s happened.

A Third Way?

Remember Star Trek: First Contact? The Borg travel back in time to assimilate the Earth. The Enterprise E travels back as well, averts disaster, defeats the Borg, but tampers with established events and leaves behind crucial advanced technology in the past. What if this temporal incursion created the same split that we see happening with the creation of the Kelvin Universe. There’s evidence to back this up: in the Prime Universe we knew nothing of the Borg until Q introduced us to them in the 24th Century. Now, after defeating the Borg in the past we have dead drones left in the debris of a destroyed Borg sphere in the Arctic ice.

Fragments of 24th century technology have been discovered in the 22nd century. Could this change the flow of events? Could this spawn a new universe with distinctive differences to the Prime Universe? I believe so, and I’d call it…

The Phoenix Universe

Here’s my theory: the Phoenix Universe came into existence when the Borg travelled back in time to try to assimilate the Earth, as seen in Star Trek: First Contact. This temporal incursion and subsequent tampering with the course of established events created a divergent timeline – named after the Phoenix ship seen in the movie. This is a universe where Borg debris litters parts of the Earth, where we have access to Borg corpses and their implants, where the details of the first warp flight and first contact with the Vulcans played out differently to those established in the Prime Universe. This is a universe where aesthetics and technology differ to those we’ve seen in the classic series. This means that ALL of Enterprise takes place in the Phoenix Universe. This explains why it doesn’t quite match up with the Prime Universe we saw in TOS. All of Discovery will presumably take place in the Phoenix Universe as well, but it’s hard to be sure until we see it. I created this graphic to help explain my theory.

The Triple Universe Theory: Prime, Phoenix and Kelvin

Do we need a Third Universe?

A third universe? Isn’t two enough? Doesn’t this make things even more complicated? Yes, but it also means I can love Enterprise and Discovery a little bit more because they don’t inflict a new ideology onto the classic Prime Universe shows of TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager – they remain intact. And it gives potential scope for exploring other parts of the Phoenix Universe. We get a whole new universe to explore.

Other Universes

Of course this is just my theory, and it’s not like we haven’t seen time travel and alternate universes before in Star Trek. There could be dozen or even hundreds of universes if we apply this logic to every single time travel adventure. But I think there’s a strong argument for the Phoenix Universe over other potential candidates; it ticks a lot of boxes, it irons out some inconsistencies and (I believe) it can increase our enjoyment of the prequel shows, letting them stretch their legs without fear of stepping on other beloved shows.

What do you think? Does the Phoenix Universe exist? Or should I turn off the TV and get out more?

I was shocked to read of the death of comic artist Steve Dillon at the end of last month.

I’ve loved his artwork since I bought the very first issue of Warrior back in early 1982. This comic (and Steve’s contribution to it) was a massive influence on me. I was just eleven when that first issue appeared without fanfare at my local newsagents. I didn’t know anything about it but Steve’s cover drew me in and, once I’d thumbed through the pages, I had to buy it. Fifty pence was half my pocket money but it was well worth it.

I didn’t know it then but Warrior contained a wealth of British talent who would go on to redefine the comic-book landscape over the coming decades: Alan Moore, Gary Leech, Alan Davis, David Lloyd, John Bolton, Steve Moore, Paul Neary, Steve Parkhouse, Grant Morrison, Jim Baikie, Brain Bolland and, of course, Steve Dillon. I still have the full run of Warrior comics. They’re battered, well worn, yellowed with age, but still full of originality, oozing the punk energy of young creative minds testing their abilities.

Steve drew Laser Eraser and Pressbutton, tucked away at the end of the comic. His clean realistic style appealed immediately and I studied his artwork for hours. There’s a natural storytelling style on display even in this early work, an understanding of timing and animation that gives his work a cinematic quality.

He made futuristic environments and vehicles look real, giving them a grubby detail that suggested age and decay.

He was the perfect artist for strips like Judge Dredd, drawing some of the most popular and enduring stories.

Steve went on to co-create the comic anthology Deadline, a natural successor to Warrior, before working for the large american publishers. He’s probably best remembered for Preacher but for me Steve will always be the artist who captured my eleven-year-old imagination and took me on an adventure to dozens of different worlds.

Last week I looked back on 2015 and what it meant to me. This week I’m looking forward into the giddy future of 2016. This year I’m writing more (or at least trying to) than in previous years. I’m slowly moving away from producing animation and focusing more and more on putting words into some sort of cohesive order. So here’s my plan for the year (in order to keep some sort of mystery and make this feel far more important than it actually is I’ve given my work code names):

Project Goldilocks

I’ve blogged lots about this one already. It’s a completed novel and is now in the hands of my capable agent Juliet Mushens. With luck I’m hoping we’ll get this placed with the right publisher, then the process of editing will begin in earnest. Publishing is a slow-moving hamster, so even if I do get lucky and this is picked up in the next couple of months I wouldn’t expect it to see the light of a bookshop until some time in 2017.

Project Artichoke

I’m currently working on the second draft of this one. It’s a fun children’s fantasy story that could potentially lead to a series of books (but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!)

I’m also working on some illustrations to go with this. I’m hopeful I can get the second draft finished by February, then it’ll go to my beta readers and my agent for feedback, with the hope of submitting to publishers in the spring.

Project Grimnire

Readers of Sorrowline and Timesmith will recognise the name of this particular project. This is the third and final book in the Timesmith Chronicles series. This is in the first stages of development but I’m keen to get it completed by the summer. I’m really excited to finish the story, and I’m hoping to do something quite special with how it’s published.

Project Nova

This is my next planned YA novel. Right now it’s nothing more than a bunch of scribbled notes and ideas rattling round my head. Once I’ve planned out the full story I’m hoping to start work on this in the Autumn. Of course that could easily change depending on what happens with my other work, so don’t hold me to this, all right?

As well as novel writing I want to get back into doing some screen-writing. I’ve an idea for a feature film which I’m keen to get down on paper when I can. So, quite ambitious plans, which will almost certainly have to change and evolve as the year unfolds, but it’s good to have goals to shoot for.

Sometimes authors are the last to know about foreign edition release dates. That might seem hard to believe (I’m still getting used to it myself) but having spoken to several other authors it’s not unusual. So it was with some surprise and delight that I stumbled on a familiar image via Twitter. There was the Brazilian Portuguese edition of Timesmith, or O Artífice do Tempo, which is due out this week!

It seems to be a straight reuse of the UK cover, designed by James Fraser, which is a slightly different approach taken with the Brazilian edition of Sorrowline last year.

It’s great to see both books published there and I’m looking forward to having a copy on my shelf some day soon!

Years have a funny way of creeping up on us, don’t they? We think we know exactly where they are then some time around August they hide behind our backs, jump out and whack us in the face with a fist full of December. BAM! The year’s out. Done and dusted. And all those ambitions will have to wait until next year. So I’m ending 2014 with a few intentions left hanging, the biggy being the completion of my third book. I haven’t finished it, but I’m really, really close.

Even so I’d say 2014 has been a much more settled and satisfying year than any of the last half dozen. If you read my blog post this time last year you might recall I described it as the best and worst of times. At least 2014 has had less bumps in the road, even if the highs haven’t been quite as high. Here’s my year:

January

With a belly full of chocolate and a head full of good intentions I set out to dominate the literary landscape. My first plan, to elaborately murder all other children’s writers is soon dismissed as I’m not big on driving, and they live all over the country! I fall back on plan B: write stuff.

February

Sorrowline is on the longlist for the prestigious Brandford Boase Award. Even though it didn’t make the cut for the shortlist I’m still thrilled. But it’s not the only awards news: Sorrowline is also short-listed for the Spellbinding 2014 award. And Read Regional kicks off!

March

To coincide with World Book Day Timesmith is published in the UK! I do a launch event in my local Waterstones and I feel like a proper author!

April

I’m temporarily teleported to an alternative dimension where I’m the only author. I’m hailed as a gold-like hero and am promoted to the board of Waterstones AND Amazon. For a few short weeks books outsell nappies, chocolate and shampoo. But the stress of writing ALL books is just too much and my pen runs out of ink. I return home in shame after the great Waterstones/Amazon War wipes out the entire population of East Grinstead.

May

Spring spings and I boing all over the place! I make a return trip to Sweden at the invitation of The English Bookshop and meet lots of very friendly readers.

June

Sorrowline is published in Brazil! This is the third foreign language edition of my first book after Germany and Thailand. I also do quite a few events including one for the National Literary Trust at St James’ Park in Newcastle. But it’s not the only unusual event: I talk at the launch of the Cultural Ambassadors scheme in my home town and take part in a live chat show in a comedy club in Newcastle! Normal service resumes next month.

July

I have a blast working with the super talented Mark Jobe helping the pupils of Macmillan Academy in Middlesbrough to write, develop and animate their own film about climate change. The project even won a few awards and was screened at a festival in Hollywood!

August

Time for a break! I have a family holiday in Spain and, while on a day trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona, I have a strange literary encounter. I’m reading George Orwell’s 1984 when I stumble into square named after the great man! I had no idea he had such a big connection to the city until that moment. I’ve now read more about his life and have realised what a fascinating figure he was.

September

I attend FantasyCon in York. It’s my first fantasy convention and I have a great time meeting up with lots of other Team Mushens authors. It’s also my first visit to The District CE Primary in Newton-le-Willows where I’m Patron of Reading. The staff and pupils have such enthusiasm for books!

October

I’m deep into writing my next book, a dystopian sci-fi adventure about two siblings facing the end of the world! I’m hoping to finish by Christmas, but it might take a bit longer than that. It’s good to be writing something new again.

November

I’m involved with a writing workshop for the pupils of The Avenue Primary School in Middlesbrough, helping them create their own story for a play about electricity consumption. Over a series of workshops they brainstorm ideas, develop characters and story then rehearse and perform the play.

December

The brilliant staff at the District CE reveal their Story Steps, and I’m thrilled to be one of the steps! I can’t wait to visit them again in the New Year and see it for myself.

It’s the end of the year already! It’s been a bit of a blur, hasn’t it? As Christmas fades away I’m still working on the new project. There’s a lot of story to tell so I’m not worried that it’s taken me longer than I’d hoped. Roll on 2015 and a fresh year to squander! I hope the New Year is good to you, thanks for your support during 2014.

Some people love football. They love everything about it! The highs the lows, the… er, goals. People who love the game enthuse about their favourite teams, arrange their entire lives around watching it on the TV, debate it with fellow fans. They’re obsessed, passionate supporters.

Then there’s me.

Hate is a strong word I rarely use, and I wouldn’t go so far as to use it against football. But my interest in it runs to a big fat zero. Yes, I was one of those guys waiting to be picked for the school kick-about. Yes, I’m short sighted and could never kick the ball in the right direction. Yes, I’m not very good at football, all right! I’ve had good reasons to dislike it from an early age.
But right now football is pretty hard to avoid. There’s some sort of competition going on in Brazil that seems to bring out the flag-waving nutter in the nicest of people. But it’s not the only thing to get excited about in that part of the world: Sorrowline is soon to be published in Brazil, and here’s the cover!

It’s using some of the elements from the UK cover by James Fraser but with a new twist. It’s interesting how each new territory has their own take on the cover. Here’s a comparison of the original UK version, then Germany, Thailand and Brazil. Even the title is different! I think my favourite is still the UK one, with the German comic-book approach coming a very close second.

So if you’re like me and not the biggest fan of the beautiful game then there is an alternative: spend the summer learning a new language! Might I suggest German, Thai or Brazilian Portuguese?

2013 was my first year as a proper published author, and what a strange, exciting, terrifying, anxious, fun year it’s been! I think Charles Dickens was onto something with his opening line from A Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.

January

Sorrowline is published! The year is off to a great start! Being published is a great feeling but also strangely anti-climatic. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for so long that when it finally arrives it seems like just another day. The focus now seems to be on the NEXT book.

February

I have a proper grown-up launch party, thanks to Andersen Press and New Writing North, in Waterstones Newcastle. The doubts floating over me last month evaporate in the excitement of the night. But I’m beginning to realise that the work is never really done. Publication is just the start.

March

I do the first of many school visits! I ease myself in gently by doing local schools but it’s not long before I’m travelling further afield. I begin to enjoy doing them, although I’m learning with every event!

April

More reviews appear online and thankfully I’m not mauled. In fact Sorrowline is very well received. I’m still glowing from this reader’s review on The Guardian website! ‘This book is a terrific, scary time-travel thriller’

May

Editing continues on my second book, Timesmith. I’ve chopped it down to a good fighting weight. It goes back to my publishers for the last round of notes and feedback.

June

I am taken to the planet Zeist to have parts of my brain reprogrammed. My left foot is accidentally replaced with an umbrella stand. We all laugh about it afterwards.

July

Timesmith is finished and signed off! It’s heading off to the printers soon and it’s time I started thinking about my next book! I told you it never ends! And this is where the worries for book two being. Will people like it? Will they buy it? I’ll know by March next year.

August

Finally my work on the animation for the Doctor Who DVD of The Ice Warriors is released. It’s a bitter-sweet time as it also marks the end of my working in animation full time and a new adventure in writing. I’ve been running my own animation studio for 11 years and it’s time to move on. There’s a mix of emotions – everything from relief to anger to anticipation for the next chapter in my life. Change is often painful but necessary. But I can’t really call myself a full-time writer just yet as I’m continuing to do mentoring and consultancy work in animation but I’m getting closer to that dream.

September

I attend my very first book fair, in Gothenburg, Sweden. I was sent by New Writing North as a sort of ambassador for North-East Writers. Luckily I avoid any major international incidents.

October

The German & Thai versions of Sorrowline are published. I’m officially an international author translated into two languages. Who would have guessed? Strange that I still don’t feel like I can call myself an author.

November

I get my hands on a copy of my second novel, Timesmith! It’s not due out until March 2014 but it’s satisfying to be able to place it next to Sorrowline on my bookshelf. Of course there is still one more book to be written before this trilogy is complete…

December

Timesmith wins Mr Ripley’s Book Cover Wars! I receive my first proper fan letter! I’m starting to let myself look forward to next year. I’m letting go of the stress that’s dogged me over the last few months and I feel like I’m ending the year in a better place than I started. That’s something worth celebrating.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last year, you’ve really made a huge difference! I hope you’ll stay with me during 2014! Have a brilliant New Year! x

Earlier this week I had to go down to London for a couple of meetings. I used to live there and I love going back, especially on a bright sunny day. I decided to walk between the meetings, avoiding the sweaty nightmare of the Tubes, when I stumbled upon this beautiful square that reminded me of somewhere in France or Italy, but with the mighty dome of St Paul’s Cathedral looming over it. It really was stunning! I discoverer later it was called Paternoster Square, and is a recent(ish) addition to the area – long after I’d moved out of the city anyway.

We stopped off for a drink and, seeing as I used St Paul’s as a major location in Sorrowline, I thought it might be nice to compare the real dome to the image on my bookmarks. Now, I like taking pictures but there’s only so much you can do with an iPhone. Here’s my best effort:

Not quite an award winning picture, but what made it worse was the lovely snap Chris Chatterton took of me at the same time! Now that’s concentration!

Here’s a newspaper story from August 2006 from my local paper, the Hartlepool Mail. This was a campaign to support the bid for Grand Central Railway to have a direct train link from Hartlepool to London. As you can read in the article, getting to London was often a time-consuming and difficult journey, fraught with problems. Since then, we now have a very good regular service to the capital, and I’m glad that local businesses, including mine, got behind this and helped to bring this service to the town.